Work value differences between Vietnam and Japan

Vietnamese and Japanese are similar in a way that both are serious and hardworking. The way how the work is valued, however, are quite different in both countries.

Using the service of Q&Me, we had compared how people in Vietnam and Japan value their work including the opinions on job change, ideal bosses etc.

The biggest and most obvious difference are found in the numbers of job changes. In Japan, it had been a virtue to stick with one company until recently and those who change job are much less than that of Vietnam. In our survey, 56% remains in a same company while the number is much lower in Vietnam with 26%.

How about the values in choosing a job? Well, it is no surprise that “salary” comes on the top. In case of Vietnam, “work environment” and “meet your skills” share the top 3. In case of Japan, “salary”, “exciting task” and “working hours” are among the most.

Japanese put more importance on how exciting the task is going to be. On the other hand, the score of “meet your skills” is not so high, as the skill training are usually given by the company. Most uni-graduates start working at companies at the exact same time from April and they usually are given the same business and technical training for months. This system makes them less worry about their skill set.

“Working-hours” are one of the biggest concern in Japan. As you may have heard, Japanese work long, despite those may not lead to the productivity. “Working-hours” is the highest reason why Japanese quit the job.

When it comes to the quitting, the common reasons for Vietnam are “low salary”, “career mismatch” and “little company benefit”. For Japan, “long working hours” and “conflict with managers/colleagues”.

I did not know how important it is to have the company benefit such as company trips in Vietnam. As a matter of fact, most Japanese youth are unwilling to join such kind of events as they prefer their privacy. Also, we have many “after five” meetings (meetings over a cup of beer after 17 o’clock). So, we see each other enough.

Also, Japanese are patient in the bad accessibility and 90 minutes transportation is not an uncommon thing in Japan. At last, “Conflict with managers/colleagues” are big issues in Japan as we work in a team and the relationship is one of the key for success.

Vietnamese are ambitious for their opportunities. They are more greedy for the better pay and environment to acquire higher skills. It is clear that the ones with high skills are better-paid and you may be able to become the one with higher income by seeking the opportunities. On the other hand, Japanese has higher commitment in the assigned task. They devote themselves more patiently to be fully responsible for his task, even though this result may not be directly related with the immediate salary increase. This results in the high-quality of works in every areas of business including the white-works, blue-works and restaurants.

Both have pros and cons. As a Japanese living in Vietnam, I come to realise Japanese job systems are somehow getting obsolete, although this has helped us maintain the high quality of the work.

The full survey could be seen from the link here. Also, we had prepared an infographic for your easy reference.